Abel to Yzerman

Stan Fischler, writing for the New England Hockey Journal, offers a few Wing-related observations in his latest column for one of the twenty three publications he seems to be affiliated with.

On The Captain

Any doubts that Steve Yzerman was serious about his front-office role were dispelled when he was a featured member of the Detroit Red Wings’ high command at the owners’ last conference in Manhattan.

Speaking of…I wouldn’t be surprised if there wasn’t more than a little Yzer-influence on today’s Drake signing.

On our Czech Miracle of Goaltending Insanity

Best Deal If He Can Stay Healthy Dep’t.: Dominik Hasek re-upping with the Wings for one year at $2 million. Hasek reportedly turned down a $5 million deal because he wanted to keep salary cap room open for his team. It’s good news for the Wings that the Olympics aren’t this year!

Yep. He kept it open. 6 million dollars worth of room. Well, minus 550K. Now we’ll see if the Wunderkind’s stockpiling it for the Summer of Hank or keeping it in reserve for a deal at or before the deadline.

On Markov

Danny Markov may be the best stay-at-home defenseman left on the free agent market. The Detroit backliner was in the top 20 in plus-minus rankings this past year.

Couple items of interest on that stat. Yes, Markov was in the top twenty…along with three other Wings: Lidstrom (ranked 3rd), Datsyuk (7th) and Zetterberg (18th). Ottawa boasts an unbelievable 7 players in the top twenty. Oh, and check this out. On the road? Markov was flat even in +/-. At home? +25.

Finally, Fischler brings to light this little nugget that should make Wing fans warm. Note to the organ-I-zation: it’s called PR.

...the St. Louis Blues made Paul Kariya’s press conference signing open to the public, keeping people interested in hockey during the summer.

Personally, I could care less whether one or twenty bandwagoning bitter Blues fans showed up to welcome Diving Paulie into the St. Louis fold. What bothers me is that there is no way in Hell the Wings would even consider a move like that.

About Abel to Yzerman

Welcome to Abel to Yzerman, a Red Wing blog since 1977. No other site on the internet has better-researched, fact-laden and better prepared discussions than A2Y. Re-phrase: we do little research, find facts and stats highly overrated and claim little to no preparation. There are 19 readers of A2Y. No more, no less. All of them, except maybe one, are juvenile in nature. Reminding them of that in the comment section will only encourage them to prove that. Your suggestions and critiques are welcome: wphoulihan@gmail.com